Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries

http://www.archive.org/details/panamacanalrenovl 967pana

NOVEMBER 1967

~ANA~1-~ ((.'~I~i~bl~~ C~1~4L

W. P. LE
H. R. PARF
FtA
Panama Ca

4bout Our Cover

MOLAS MADE by the Cuna Indians of the San Bias
Islands adorn the cover of this issue of THE PANAMA
CANAL REVIEW.
Artistically designed in bright colors and intricately
sewn, they represent a small but purely Panamanian
industry. The molas themselves occasionally reach the
smart shops of New Orleans and New York where they
fetch good prices. They are seen with greater frequency
in Panama.
When framed, they make handsome wall decorations
for the home-the most common use for them. They also
are used to cover pillows and stitched together to form
jackets, blouses or skirts.
The mola consists basically of four pieces of cotton
cloth, usually 14 by 20 inches, of different colors, with
green, red, orange and black dominating. These are
placed in layers, one over the other, and sewn together.
At first glance, they seem to be appliqued, but this is
not the case. The Indian seamstress cuts into the layers
of material until she finds the color she wants; by cutting

Jndex

away and by sewing the edges, she creates the design
she wishes.
These designs have no religious significance, contrary
to what many believe, and the variety of designs is
limited only by the rich imagination of the Cuna women
who have an extraordinary artistic sense.
It is believed that the mola came into existence in
the middle of the last century when the Cunas established
themselves on the islands in search of a climate more
hospitable than that of the jungle. The women wore
white blouses of cotton with shells and pieces of mirrors
and beads used as trimmings on the borders of the blouse.
The appearance of colored cloth and the sewing
machine on the islands permitted the women to change
the beads on their blouses for trimmings of colored ma-
terial, beginning with simple designs. These evolved into
more complicated designs and soon covered the entire
blouse. Thus the mola was born.
Now, a prospective bride of San Blas would not think
of getting married if she did not have a dozen new molas
in her trousseau.

Freshly cut bananas, still bearing their protective polyethylene sacks, are taken from the field to the packing house. Each stem of this very
delicate fruit is carefully place into a cradlelike section of the vehicle as further protection against bruising.

,i Vital to Panama

Banana Industry

SOMETIMES THEY call it green gold.
But it's familiar to most people as the
banana-plump, tasty and a hardwork-
ing contributor to Panama's economy.
The consumer in the United States or
Europe may think this nickname odd
because he knows bananas are yellow,
not green. But they are green when
the big, 75-pound stalks are harvested
and still green when shipped out to
customers abroad.
The banana grows wild throughout
much of Panama, but it is the commer-
cial cultivation of bananas that means
much to the country. The banana in
this case is the sweet banana, not the
plaintain or cooking banana which is
starchy rather than sweet. The plain-
tain is used widely as a key ingredient
in many dishes, and eaten as a vegeta-
ble in Latin America. However, it
rarely appears in the markets of the
Temperate Zone.
More than 11,000 Panamanians are
employed in the banana industry which

exported almost 14 million bunches in
1966, according to Panama Government
figures. This represented nearly $35 mil-
lion, and was 44 percent of the country's
total exports. Besides salaries, the banana
means tax money for schools, roads,
hospitals and services every citizen
expects from his government.
This remarkable plant is one of the
world's most important fruits for three
fundamental reasons-its food value,
pleasing flavor and year-round avail-
ability. Less obvious characteristics
enhance its value as a crop that lends
itself to profitable large scale cultivation.
Production is more or less constant
throughout the year, so management
doesn't have to hire great numbers
of workers for brief periods, partic-
ularly during harvest time. This built-in
advantage also gives the field hand a
steady paycheck as opposed to a
seasonal one.
Another tremendous benefit is com-
parative freedom from constant replant-

ings. The seed, composed of suckers and
divisions of the psuedostem, produces
a new plant every 10 to 15 months for
as long as 40 years.
After fruiting, the 10 to 12-foot stem
or false trunk dies. A sweep of the
machete cuts it down and other suckers
soon shoot up from the underground
rhizome (stem).
Thanks to the rapid growth and the
fact that the first crop is obtained in
about a year, financial returns are quick;
the planter doesn't have a lot of cash
tied up for a long time in a slow-
growing crop.
The entire operation sounds unbe-
lievably simple, but it really isn't. There
are hazards and pitfalls that must be
avoided if banana cultivation on a
commercial basis is to succeed. Highly
efficient and knowledgeable manage-
ment is a must. Effective organization
and flexibility must guide every phase
(See p. 4)

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Wind, Cold

Are Enemies

Of Bananas

(Continued from p. 3)
of the operation-growing, harvesting,
packing, distributing and sales.
Irrigation is required to guarantee
continuous production during the dry
season. Spraying with DDT and other
chemicals is imperative to keep bananas
coming and free of disease.
A highly perishable commodity, the
banana has to be handled carefully. The
time to cut the green fruit is selected
through careful observation and by
people with considerable experience.
The degree of maturity the fruit is al-
lowed to attain before harvesting de-
pends upon the distance it must travel
to market and the type of transporta-
tion. Bananas going from Panama to the
United States ripen 8 to 10 days after
cutting time. For those going to Europe,
it takes longer.
Refrigerated ships, in which they
travel to consumers, are cooled to about
56 degrees, slowing to some extent the
ripening process.
Bananas, like virtually all crops, are
vulnerable to disease. The most lethal
is called Panama disease, which also is
prevalent in other countries. It is a fun-
gus that destroys the roots, then the rest
of the plant.
Blowdowns are another menace to
bananas. Even light winds can lay waste
to acre after acre of bananas. Of less
importance to Panama but of great con-
sequence to other regions of the world is
the danger of a cold snap. When the
mercury drops to below 54 degrees, the
grower can expect to find some damage
to the fruit.
The leader of Panama's banana indus-
try is the Chiriqui Land Company, a
subsidiary of the United Fruit Com-
pany. The firm's first investment in Pan-
ama was at the Caribbean settlement of
Almirante in 1898. By 1914, the pro-
duction from the region's Changuinola

1 --

A workman unloads the stems at the packing plant. Here they are hung individually on
overhead hooks that carry them to the processing areas where they are first cut from the stem.

Valley became famous for high quality
bananas which brought good prices in
the United States and Canada.
At the end of World War I, an infes-
tation of Panama disease destroyed great
numbers of banana plants and almost
forced the company to close down its
operations here. But it survived and

gradually recovered. In 1927, it set up
a new branch on the Pacific coast in
Chiriqui, calling it the Armuelles Divi-
sion-presently the largest banana pro-
ducing enterprise in the country. This
region was called Rabo de Puerco (pig-
tail) at the time and is now the city of
Puerto Armuelles.

Intent youth cuts "hands" of bananas from the stems with hooked knife, then places them
into the washing tubs behind him. Women separate them into smaller hands, cull out those
not meeting quality standards and put the others on conveyor belts for weighing and packing.

NOVEMBER 1967

-

It was a swampy, malaria and insect-
ridden area but gradually that was
changed. Under terms of a contract
with the Government, the company built
a large wharf on the bay, laid several
miles of railroad track linking it with
the main track of Panama's Ferrocar-
ril Nacional de Chiriqui and made
other improvements not covered by the
contract.
A mosquito control program helped
to convert the former pesthole into a
healthy community. A company-built
and operated hospital serves the more
than 5,000 employees and their families.
Needed skills are learned at the modern
machine shop. Schools put up by the
company for workers' families were
turned over to the Panama Government,
which now administers them. Recre-
ational facilities and athletic teams for
both adults and children were establish-
ed. A scholarship program for children,
a retirement plan and housing are
some of the other benefits the company
provides for employees.
The Armuelles Division of the Chiri-
qui Land Company has an annual pay-
roll of more than $7 million and con-
tributes heavily to the local economy by
purchasing cement, paint, lumber, food
and innumerable other commodities.
It also pays rent to the railroad for
use of the main line, export tax, income
and other miscellaneous taxes. Together
these payments come to more than $3
million a year. A few years ago after the
company began shipping bananas by
pasteboard box instead of by stem, the
Armuelles Division built a $2 million
factory where Chiricanos are employed
to turn out these containers.
Each one holds 42 pounds of bananas,
allowing for shrinkage to a guaranteed
40 pounds, and last year the division
exported 12 million boxes, mostly to the
United States. The divisional manager,
Clyde E. DeLawder, points out that
30 percent of this comes from 14 inde-
pendent producers who profit by the
large company's marketing and other
facilities. "We buy all they produce,"
he explained.
The Gros Michel specie of banana,
the most popular grown for many years
in this area, is being replaced by the
Valery. "The Cros Michel banana is
susceptible to Panama disease which
ruins the soil for bananas in the future,"
DeLawder noted. "We began to box
bananas in 1961. This opened the way
to the Valery, a thin-skinned banana that
bruises easily but resists Panama dis-
ease." The Cros Michel is being phased
out at Puerto Armuelles and eventually

Properly-weighed quantity of fruit, 42 pounds, goes into open trays and is inspected before
being placed into plastic-lined box. Spool near the girl's head contains United Fruit
Company's "Chiquita" trademark seal for bananas going to the United States and Europe.

only Valery bananas will be produced.
The word Valery is a registered
trademark of the United Fruit Co.
Bananas take a lot of nitrogen from
the soil. Fertilizers are used in great
quantities to replace it. Aerial spraying
lays down fertilizers, fungicides and in-
secticides. Polyethylene sacks are placed
over every stalk of maturing bananas
to offer further protection against insects.
This gives the illusion that the sacks are
almost part of the plant.
Every 6 to 10 years land is left fallow
to starve out the nematodes in that

(-
. /

Two-fisted eater of bananas, William E.
Lebrun, Jr., is obviously an enthusiastic
supporter of the Panama banana industry.

area. Another important measure is
the use of guy lines to give each plant
greater support and protection against
blowdown.
Mechanization is used where practi-
cal, but many of these tasks must be
done by hand labor. At the packing
plant, stalks suspended from overhead
hooks move on a conveyor to large
washing pools. Workmen use short
curved knives to cut "hands" of bananas
from the stalks and place them into the
water for washing.
Women discard those that don't meet
the quality standards. The rest are car-
ried on to where the brand name seal,
"Chiquita" if bound for the United
States or Europe, is placed on each one.
Finally, they are placed in cartons,
which are checked for weight. The
bananas are covered with a layer of
polyethylene and the box closed.
The banana yields few byproducts
though one company does produce
mashed banana, or puree.
Demand for high quality fruit in
temperate markets is great, fluctuating
only slightly according to the availability
of other fruits. This delicious food, which
provides the livelihood for thousands of
persons in Panama and other nations of
Latin America, Asia and Africa, seems
to be almost perfect.
But for the chubby consumer, at least,
it isn't. Bananas contain about 460
calories per pound.

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

IAGS Mapping

Experts Aid

The Americas

THE INTER American Geodetic Sur-
vey (IAGS) is one of the largest U.S.
mapping organizations but it does not
produce a single map.
Its task is to assist the mapping
agencies in Central and South America
in producing the maps themselves.
Maps can be used as valuable tools for
implementing economic development
programs.
Mapping in the Americas had its
beginning near the end of World War
II, in 1945 when President Harry S.
Truman directed the U.S. War Depart-
ment to establish long-range mapping
and charting projects in the Antilles,
Central and South America. To carry
out this mission, the Caribbean Defense
Command was assigned the responsi-
bility and was issued an initial direc-
tive April 5, 1946, forming the Inter
American Geodetic Survey.
The directive designated its plan as
"Mapping Plans Caribbean Defense
Command," abbreviated MAPPLAN,
CDC. Now it is simply MAPPLAN.
From 1946 to 1957, a few maps were
produced. During those years, the geo-
detic networks were being established
and photographs were being taken.
Some 170,000 square miles of Latin
America have been mapped since the
inauguration of the plan.
LAGS projects are at work in Bolivia,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Sal-
vador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicara-
gua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and
Venezuela.
The IAGS carries out the U.S. Army's
portion of the MAPPLAN directive to
collect existing data; to obtain new
data through aerial photography and
in the field; to establish a geodetic
tie between North and South Amer-
ica; to standardize maps; to develop
cartographic agencies; and to promote
international good will.
When IAGS personnel speak of
mapping Latin America, they refer to
a total area of more than 8 million
square miles. Brazil alone is 250,000
square miles larger than the continental
United States.
IAGS has loaned more than $5

They're not admiring the scenery, although that would be easy to do. The group above is
engaged in leveling while standing atop a dam in Brazil.

millions worth of equipment to the col-
laborating agencies of Latin American
nations. Each of these agencies receive
continuous technical assistance from
qualified, bilingual U.S. technicians
either permanently assigned to the
country or on temporary duty assign-
ments from the Canal Zone. Technical
training is provided in the Canal Zone
Cartographic School. U.S. bilingual
personnel perform certain operations
beyond the capability of the collaborat-
ing agency and bilingual engineers in
the field give on-the-job training, as-
sisting in the preparation of the annual
mapping program of the country.

Col. Edward C. Bruce, the new director of
the U.S. Army Inter American Geodetic
Survey, is on his second assignment in
Latin America. He served as MAPPLAN
officer for the United States Southern Com-
mand from September 1961 to July 1964.

More than 550 rugged military-type
vehicles-needed because of inadequate
roads or extreme weather conditions-
are on loan to collaborating nations.
In the Canal Zone, IAGS has an
instrument branch where repairs are
made to instruments for collaborating
agencies as well as those of IAGS.
Every two years, each piece of techni-
cal equipment is rotated for complete
inspection, adjustment and overhaul, if
necessary. And no charge is made to
the collaborating country.
The IAGS Cartographic School at
Fort Clayton was established in 1952
to train people in all phases of map-
making and geodesy, a specialized form
of mathematics related to the science
of mapmaking. To date, more than
2,200 students from 21 Latin Amer-
ican countries have graduated from
the school.
This institution has two four-month
semesters a year and the student body
is made up of male and female, civilians
and military, enlisted personnel and
officers. All courses are taught in
Spanish by bilingual instructors.
The training is of a practical nature,
with about 70 percent of the time be-
ing devoted to field and office exercises
designed to develop the technical tal-
ents of students. In 1965, a college level
program in advanced photogrammetry
(using aerial photos to make accurate
measurements in mapmaking) was
introduced and training now is given
at that level.
About 75 percent of the photography
in South America has been accomplish-
ed by the U.S. Air Force. The balance
has been taken by the U.S. Navy

NOVEMBER 1967

d9~ti5~ --- r~

and planes privately contracted within
the countries.
The Canal Zone-based 937th En-
gineer Company provides the Army
aviation support to the Inter American
Geodetic Survey, by transporting per-
sonnel and equipment to station sites.
The aviators assigned to this unit
are among the most highly qualified
and experienced in the Army. For some
of the most hazardous flying conditions
in the world, outside of actual combat,
are encountered in supporting the IAGS
mapping program. I'ypes of terrain
vary from the lofty Peruvian Andes
with elevations reaching 20,000 feet
to the Central American jungles and
to the vast llanos of Colombia and
Venezuela.
The 937th Engineer Company head-
quarters element exists solely to support
field operations of aircraft and person-
nel from Guatemala to Chile and
Brazil. Thousands of miles are traveled
throughout Central and South America
monthly in this support operation and
a high frequency radio network is
constantly alert to pass on the routine
or unexpected requirements of mapping
operations.
The IAGS has a Natural Resources
Division, composed of geologists, hy-
drologists, foresters and other scientists,
to assist the Latin American countries
in their economic development pro-
grams. The professional development
programs are provided by this division
at the request of USAID (United States
Agency for International Development)
missions. Since its inception, in June
1963, the division has answered 35
requests for advice and assistance in
II nations.
The development programs involve
the inventory and better utilization of
natural resources such as soils, water,
vegetation, climate, physiography and
minerals in such fields as agriculture,
forestry, mining and in the installation
of various types of water and land
resources projects.
In Latin America there are about
4,000 persons involved in the mapping
program; this figure includes 700
from IAGS.
As each agency becomes more and
more proficient, the production of that
country's maps goes up and the product
will be available to the United States
and to the nation itself for economic
planning or military activities.
Mapping operations in Panama under
the direction of the IAGS started in
1946. The Republic of Panama, with
no national cartographic agency at that
time, formed a provisional Division of
(See p. 8)

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW 7

Climbing a 103-foot bilby tower to get a line of sight of sufficient length for the geodetic
control is all part of a day's work for the men of the Inter American Geodetic Survey.
This photo was taken in Venezuela.

Major David D. Dross, new operations officer with the 937th Engineer Company (Aviation)
is on a second tour of duty in the Canal Zone. He departed from the Canal Zone in 1964
and his last assignment before returning was in Vietnam. The aviators assigned to the 937th
are among the most highly qualified and experienced in the Army.

Aerial Photoi

&C3ential to

Mapmaking

(Continued from p. 7)
Cartography under the Ministry of
Public Works as a part of the Pan
American Highway office to collaborate
with the IAGS in the early mapping
operations.
At the beginning, the 660th Topog-
raphic Survey Battalion assisted in
the basic geodetic network of levels
a;nd triangulation. The 660th left in
1949 and in 1955 the 551st Engineer
Company (Survey) was assigned to
IAGS. Its principal duties were to
perform supplemental map control and
field classification.
The later members of this organiza-
tion participated in the field editing
of large scale topographic map sheets
until it was transferred back to Fort
Belvoir, Virginia, in 1966. Since then,
members of the Panama government
mapping agency have continued map-
ping activities where photography has
been obtained.
Large scale maps are more detailed
than small scale. Extreme examples are
a one sheet map of the world (small
scale) in comparison with a one sheet
map of a town or city (large scale).
Panama's new cartographic building,
the Instituto Cartografico Tommy Guar-
dia, was inaugurated by Panama Pres-
ident Marco A. Robles the past Febru-

EI

The instrument is a tellurometer and using it is Julio Mock, a student from Panama in the
Field Surveys Branch of the IAGS school. Seated, from left: Jose Whittingham, assistant
instructor, also from Panama; Nelson Rada of Venezuela; and Victor Villatoro of Guatemala.

ary. At that time, President Robles
signed the first map sheet to be run
off a new press and he pressed the
button to start the presses rolling.
The institute was named in honor of
the late Tomas Guardia, Jr., who was
director of the Panama mapping agency
until his death in 1965. He was an
instructor of the Inter American Geo-
detic Survey Cartographic School dur-
ing its early years and served as Chief
of the Office Engineering Branch of the
school from 1952 to 1954.
When the cartographic agency moved
into its new building, IAGS technicians
assisted in installing and calibrating the
cameras and printing press. All branch-
es of the IAGS Cartographic section
have responded to requests for tech-

A surveying party in Peru, using IAGS equipment, is a focus of interest in the town.

nical advice and other assistance since
the building has been opened.
The officer in charge of the Panama
Project is Major Jack L. Duncan; the
project engineer is George E. Rich-
ardson. The chief of the Instituto
Cartografico Tommy Guardia is Arq.
Edwin Fabrega.
One of the essential factors in map-
making today is the acquisition of aerial
photography. In Panama, the U.S. Air
Force, Navy and civilian contractors
for the Army Map Service have ob-
tained about 70 percent of the neces-
sary photo coverage. The difficulties in
getting the final 30 percent are con-
stant cloud coverage in the wet season
and smoke haze in the dry season. Re-
cently, experiments have been made
with radar photography in the Darien
area from which topographic maps will
be completed later this year.
Of the total of 216 large scale map
sheets needed to cover the entire Re-
public, 104 have been published. The
two gap areas are the Darien east of
Chepo and the Golfo de los Mosquitos.
Ten more map sheets were readied for
publication last year when a precise
definition of the border between Pan-
ama and Costa Rica was agreed to by
the mapping agencies of both countries.
Utilizing information from the large
scale map sheets and source data for
areas not yet mapped, the Instituto
Cartografico Tommy Guardia produced
a small scale map of the entire Republic.
This is the way IAGS operates in all
countries of Latin America. It helps
the nation build up its own mapping
agency so that most of the work can
be accomplished by that country.

NOVEh BER 1967

60th Birthday

For Cristobdl

Woman's Club

THE CRISTOBAL Woman's Club,
celebrating its 60th anniversary this
year, came into being in days that
tried men's souls, and even more so
tried their women's souls.
Col. William C. Gorgas had exter-
minated the danger of yellow fever on
the Isthmus through mosquito control.
By 1905, towns were growing up like
mushrooms along the route of the pro-
posed Panama Canal and, little bv lit-
tle, these towns were peopled by women
and children, the families of Canal
construction men.
But for the women who came to the
Canal Zone in those days there was
little of beauty, except for the tropical
verdure. There were few comforts in
the Canal Zone in those early days;
there were many privations, and almost
no diversions. In some cases, families
lived in freight cars on sidings and
many families were housed in the most
primitive shacks. Housekeeping con-
veniences were rare, food was of such
poor quality that even good cooks had
their ingenuity taxed to set a nourish-
ing and appetizing table. The women
became discontented and added to the
low morale of the men, with the result
that every boat saw an exodus of the
Canal diggers and their families.
The U.S. Government, concerned
with the problems of the building of
the Panama Canal, still was not too
busy to consider the problem of the
women in the Canal Zone. A directive
was issued by the Government "to pro-
vide an object in life for the wives of
the employees and relieve monotony,"
and Miss Helen Varick Boswell was
sent from Washington's National Civic
Foundation to look into conditions.
Women's clubs appeared to her to be
the answer.
The Cristobal Woman's Club was
organized September 27, 1907, and
was the first of a group of seven Isth-
mian clubs formed 2 weeks later under
the name of the Canal Zone Federation
of Women's Club. These clubs -were
landmarks of the early construction
days of the Panama Canal, and the

- I' It
r- Z

Tuesday morning workshop with members busy in Bazaar preparations.

The Cristobal Woman's Club has been in its own building in Margarita since August 1959.

names on the club rosters are familiar
to students of Canal history.
Mrs. George W. Goethals, wife of
Colonel Goethals whose engineering
skill completed the mammoth task of
the Canal building, was the first presi-
dent of the Canal Zone Federation. The
first four vice presidents were Mrs.
Lorin C. Collins, who later became pres-
ident; Mrs. Gorgas, to whose husband

the Canal Zone owes its present-day
sanitation; Mrs. William L. Sibert,
wife of the colonel of engineers in
charge of construction on the Atlantic
side for many years, and Mrs. Chester
Harding, whose husband later became
a Governor,
Then, just as the towns were deserted
upon completion of the Canal and, in
(See p. 21)

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

SH 1

Ever Larger Tankers
THE RAPID growth in the size of the
oil tanker has manifested itself in the
past year by the delivery of the first
vessel of over 200,000 tons deadweight,
the Idemitsu Mlaru, and by the ordering
of six tankers each of 276,000 tons
deadweight for the Gulf Oil Company.
These projected vessels will be used
to transport crude oil from the Per-
sian Gulf to a storage depot in Ban-
try Bay, Ireland, for trans-shipment to
the European oil refineries in smaller
vessels.
This system of trans-shipment is the
economic solution to transportation of
crude oil in large "Cape route only" ves-
sels. If sufficient depth of water is pro-
vided at the loading and storage ter-
minals, the growth in size may continue
with a possibility that there will be
500,000 tonners and 1 million ton
deadweight tankers.
Giant Bulk Carrier
THE SHOBU MARU, one of the largest
bulk carriers now in service in Japan,
made her maiden voyage through the
Panama Canal in mid-August with a
cargo of 55,000 long tons of coal from
Norfolk to Japan. The big ship is 815
feet in length and has a beam of 104.49
feet which put her in a class with some
of the Canal's biggest customers. Her
summer deadweight w-as given as
62,418 tons. Her agent at the Canal is
Boyd Brothers.

According to a recent article in the
Marine Digest, the Shobu MAaru has a
revolutionary bow design which en-
abled her to exceed design specifica-
tions in test runs. Her new contour
combines the best features of both
cylindrical and bulbous bows. It was
developed by Nippon Kokan K.K.,
builders of the vessel, for operation of
large ships on engines of lower power
without sacrificing speed. The Shobu
laru established top speed of 17.38
knots and service speed of 15.25 knots
with one-third cargo load during her
sea trials.

1968

1967 \/-

-(AVERAGE 1951-1955)

JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN

1200 N
U
1100 M
8
1000 E
R
900 0
F
800 T
R
700 A
N
600
I
T
0 S

MONTHS

N

G

New Italian Visitor
THE 30,000-TON Italian liner Euge-
nio C. will make her first visit to the
Isthmus January 3 when she docks at
Cristobal during a 31-day Caribbean
cruise, according to her local agents,
C. B. Fenton & Company, Inc.
Built in 1966, this luxury liner is
considered the largest and fastest ves-
sel of the non-governmental Italian fleet.
She is equipped with a double set of
finned stabilizers which eliminate rol-
ling and she holds the speed record
(27 knots) on the Mediterranean-South
America run.
The Eugenio C. is scheduled to visit
St. Thomas, Fort de France, Bridge-
town, Port of Spain, La Guaira, then
Cristobal, Montego Bay, Port Everglades
and finally Nassau before heading home
to Genoa.

New Cargo Vessels
LYKES BROS. Steamship Co. Inc., of
New Orleans, which is one of the
Panama Canal's biggest customers, has
invited bids for the construction of 3
new all-purpose cargo ships it plans to
add to its fleet, according to an article in
Brandon's Shipper & Forwarder.
These ships, to be the largest of
common-carrier cargoliners ever built,
will be 875 feet in length and 106 feet
in beam. They are to be named the Sea-
bee Class, in honor of the U.S. Navy
construction battalions observing their
25th anniversary this year.
Each driven by a powerplant of
36,000 shaft horsepower, the largest
ever installed in any cargo vessel, the
Seabees will cross the ocean at 20 knots
or faster. The company plans to place
them in service between the U.S. Gulf
ports and Continental Europe early
in 1970.
Lykes president Frank A. Nemec was
reported as stating that the new ships
will offer unprecedented flexibility in
carrying various types of commercial
and military cargo. "This is not just
another new ship but is a whole new
method of ocean transportation based
on a new method of handling shipboard
cargo," Nemec was quoted in the
article.

NOVEMBER 1967

Summit Gardens: Fun

For Adults

AS DRY season approaches, Isthmian
residents begin planning more outdoor
activities, particularly those the entire
family can enjoy together.
Picnics with the accompanying cook-
outs or barbecues are high on the list
of dry season activities. And one of the
favorite locations to take the family
for a day outdoors is Summit Gardens,
the sprawling, 300-acre natural wonder-
land on Gaillard Highway, not far
from Gamboa.
Picturesque vegetation, shade trees,
lily ponds, picnic tables, fireplaces,
winding flowered lanes, gently rolling
hills and uncluttered lawns where the
kiddies can romp while adults relax in
the afternoon somnolence. These are a
few of the attractions.
Parents who take their youngsters
for a day at Summit Gardens are almost
sure to be asked to take them for a
ride on one of the two burritos, Mancha
or Gato. Presented as a gift from
former Canal Zone Gov. Robert J.
Fleming, Jr., the sturdy burritos mean
free rides to the children visiting Sum-
mit. The pair also serve as ambassadors
of good will at various fairs throughout

the Republic of Panama. They are
usually seen by the Panama Canal pa-
vilion at the fairs where local kiddies
are given rides.
Another fascination for the children
and parents, alike, is the Summit Gar-
dens Zoo. Though small compared with
metropolitan zoos in the United States
and other nations, this zoo, the only
public one on the Isthmus, houses a
large number of the animals found in
Panama. In fact, almost all of the an-
imals and birds on display at the zoo
are natives of this area.
A few rabbits, chickens and geese
have found their way into some of the
cages, to the surprise of first time visi-
tors. But by and large, the animals are
not the type found in northern climes.
From time to time, new species are
acquired through donations or by being
captured by zoo officials.

Roy Sharp, who as South
Grounds Supervisor has re
for Summit Gardens, says
frequently netted and ad
collection of fowl.

Curious jaguar peers out as photographer

cm District snaps this picture. This animal was purchas-
sponsibility ed as a cub from an elderly Indian woman
who had killed the mother. But that was
birds are 3 years ago and the former baby jaguar has
ded to the since grown into an adult weighing some 200
pounds. The jaguar is the largest member
(See p. 12) of the cat family in the Americas.

View of an undisturbed lily pond from under one of the bridges at Summit Gardens. Beautiful landscaped paths and walkways help to
make this area inviting for a lazy day stroll. More energetic children may prefer to frolic.

TIE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Truly A Miraculous Plant

(Continued from p. 11)
One of the most looked at animals
in the Summit Gardens cages is a three-
year-old jaguar, the only one in the zoo.
The jaguar is the largest member of
the cat family in this hemisphere. This
animal was purchased as a cuddly,
weeks-old cub from an elderly Indian
woman who had shot its mother and
retrieved the baby. L. A. Ferguson, Di-
rector of the Supply and Community
Services Bureau under which Summit
Gardens is administered, set up a special
cub purchase fund contributed to by
friends and associates. Today the jag-
uar is a lithe adult weighing perhaps
200 pounds.
Another ferocious member of the cat
family found at Summit is the puma,
an animal that ranges from the United
States to South America. Smaller than
the jaguar, it is known as the mountain
lion in parts of the United States. Two
still smaller felines are the jaguarundi,
which some Isthmians erroneously call
a black panther, and the ocelot or ti-
grillo. Near the cages housing these
are the gatos negros, members of the
weasel family.
Favorites of the young set are the
spider monkeys that use arms, legs and
tail to swing about, showing off their
agility. The imploring faces of the lit-
tle capuchin monkeys, the type used
by the old organ grinders, rarely fail
to capture the sympathetic attention
of visitors.
Red, white and black vultures with
great wingspreads are among the larger
Panamanian and migratory birds on
display. There is also a spindly legged
stork. Loud squawking but brilliantly
feathered macaws glare out at visitors.
Dozens of varieties of smaller birds
are housed together in a miniature
jungle of plantlife that provides natural
and roomy environment. The birds in-
side range from the toucans with their
large, multicolored beaks and the tiny
blue honey creepers with red legs, to
the bright red "sangre de toro" or tan-
ager and orange billed sparrow. Fre-
quently the birds with less spectacular
physical features possess curious habits.
For example, the cowbird lays eggs
in the nests of other birds and lets
them hatch them and feed and care
for the young.
A stroll through the zoo grounds
takes you past cages with crab eating
raccoons, wild turkey, native deer, capy-
bara (the world's largest rodent),

the kinkajou or honey bear, pools
with turtles and caimans and myriad
other creatures.
But it is the vegetation-trees and
plants from many tropical nations-that
draws thousands to the Gardens every
year. Set up in 1923 to introduce, prop-
agate and disseminate plants for the
Isthmus, the Gardens have thousands of
economic, fruit and flowering trees,
ornamental shrubs, and vines. These
grace virtually every townsite within

the Canal Zone plus Panama City
and Colon.
Some experimental work is done on
such things as grasses for grazing and
for lawns. Seeds from many plants
nurtured in Summit Gardens have
been sent to other countries in the
hemisphere.
Plants now flourishing at Summit
Gardens came from Madagascar, the
Philippines, Australia, New Zealand,
Hawaii, China, Burma, the Vest Indies,

, / .ff. " *.. ,- . '-- ... ; -*'
-,
- .. ';- . - -- .-..' -. i -
Huge, tangled banyan tree chokes out most other trees that happen to be in the way. There
is no limit to the number of aerial roots that descend from above the ground and implant
themselves into the soil, creating a huge tangle of what appears to be additional trunks.

Stoic looking capybara may not be the most beautiful resident of Summit Gardens but he
is surely one of the most interesting. The capybara is the world's largest rodent.

NOVEMBER 1967

A group of children stroll under an archway of bamboo, which is a
member of the grass family. Bamboo grows several inches in a day
but grows in height only, and not in diameter. Sometimes it grows
to a height of 50 feet and is frequently confused with rattan, a palm
commonly used in the manufacture of furniture.

A feminine visitor examines this miraculous plant, the only one at
Summit Gardens. As the name implies, this member of the plant
world has an extraordinary characteristic. It produces red berries
which, when eaten, cause everything eaten for 2 hours or longer
afterwards to taste almost sickening sweet.

the East Indies, Central and South
America, and the Mediterranean area.
The best way for a layman nature
lover or avid horticulturist to see Sum-
mit Gardens is the dry season tours
conducted by Sharp who plans to re-
sume the tours again this year. The
newcomer to the tropics finds these
tours of special interest. Sharp points
out the rarer plants, describes their
uses, physical qualities and more no-
table characteristics. Many of these are
indeed worthy of notation.
Several beautiful stands of bamboo
are found throughout the Gardens. The
bamboo shoot, which is covered with
a prickly sheath, never grows in diam-
eter but makes up for it by rapid
vertical growth. It rises as much as I
foot in 24 hours and eventually reaches
a height of up to 50 feet. "Bamboo"
furniture found in many households
is actually not bamboo but rattan, a
climbing palm.
Scattered throughout the Gardens
are teak trees, a native of Burma that
was first introduced here in 1926. It is
one of the most highly valued woods
because of its beautiful grain, hardness,
resistance to termites and, to some ex-
tent, even to fire. It is commonly used
for decking on sleek yachts and for

elegant furniture. In Panama City, shop-
pers find handsome wooden chests from
India made of teak.
The banyan is a strange tree from
India which is found in Summit Gar-
dens also. It has a main trunk and an
unlimited number of aerial roots that
descend from limbs and implant them-
selves into the ground, producing a vast
entanglement that strangles other trees.
One of the few it does not kill is the
palm which has an internal cell struc-
ture allowing it to receive nourishment
directly from the ground up through
the trunk.
One of the largest palms in the world,
the talipot palm of Ceylon is found
near the entrance to Summit Gardens.
It flowers only once every 30 to 35
years, then dies. The talipot is also the
home of bats which cut partially through
the large leaves to make them droop,
providing a cave-like hiding place on
the underside.
The nispero, or sapodilla, an ex-
tremely hardwood tree, produces a
small edible fruit. While still green,
the fruit gives a milky sap originally
used for the manufacture of chewing
gum. Mistletoe, a parasitic vine, is seen
clinging to mango and other trees in
the Gardens.

Growing in great profusion at the
Gardens are various species of orchids,
large and small, which festoon tree
trunks where they have been nailed.
Despite their apparently clinging ten-
dency, the orchids are not parasites;
they) receive nutrition through the air
and rain rather than from a host. Va-
nilla, a vine that was the original source
of vanilla extract, is a flowering orchid,
also seen at Summit.
African coffee plants, rubber plants
from Brazil, espave or wild cashew and
the cola tree, originally used for popular
cola drinks, are a few of other thousands
of plant species.
The properties of the miraculous
plant seems almost incredible to some
visitors to the Gardens. This tropical
African plant produces red berries
which, when eaten, cause everything
consumed for 2 or 3 hours thereafter
to have a sugary sweet taste.
Sharp says the true test of this is to
taste a sour lemon before eating one of
the berries; next taste the same lemon
and notice the striking difference. The
before and after are important, Sharp
says, because otherwise the taster will
think he is being given a sweet lemon.
These are but a few of the delights of
Summit Gardens-and admission is free.

The following table shows the number of transits of large, commercial vessels (300 net tons or over)
segregated into 8 main trade routes:

Trade routes

United States Intercoastal -- --
East coast United States and South America ---
East coast United States and Central America--
East coast United States and Far East -. --....
East coast United States/Canada and Australasia
Europe and West coast United States/Canada
Europe and South America
Europe and Australasia ---
All other routes
Total traffic

THIRTY OR more cruise ships, flying
the flag of the United States and many
other nations and carrying 15,000 to
20,000 tourists, will call at Canal ports
during the 1967-68 cruise season.
Shipping agents who have received
the winter cruise schedule from the
companies thev represent here point
out that all of the vessels listed are
usually on the North Atlantic or Euro-
pean service during the summer months
and do not visit the Canal as part of
a regular nrn.
In addition to the big luxury liners
on special cruises, many thousands
more tourists will arrive here on pas-
senger ships which are regular Canal
customers. These include the Grace
Line and New Zealand Shipping Com-
pany ships as well as the P & O Lines,
the American President Lines and the
Shaw Savill round-the-world liners.
According to the advance schedule,
most of the ships due to touch at Canal
ports during the winter have been
here before. One exception is the French
Line's Renaissance, due at Cristobal
March 9. Formerly on the European-
Mediterranean cruise run, she is making
her first trip to the Canal on a Carib-
bean cruise. Another exception is the
Italian liner Eugenio C. which will
make a stop at Cristobal January 3
during a Caribbean cruise also.
Some of the larger liners, which visit-
ed Cristobal last year, are the French
Line's France, due to call February 19
and 29; the United States is due De-
cember 27 and February 7; and the
Queen Elizabeth, January 29. All but
United States are too large to pass
through the Canal.
The parade of cruise ships began
September 21 when the Holland Amer-
ica Line Statendam arrived at Cristobal
and transited the Canal en route to the
U.S. west coast. She is to make a series
of cruises from California to the Pacific
during the winter and will return to
Ballxoa April 2 on her way back to
New York.
The Norwegian America Line Ber-
gensfjord went through the Canal Oc-

tuber 3 en route to South America with
a special visit to Easter Island. After
leaving Cristobal the ship also called at
Callao, Valparaiso, Montevideo, Buenos
Aires, Santos, Recife and Curacao. The
Brasil will transit southbound and de-
part Balboa November 9 for an around
South America cruise.
December will bring the United
States into Cristobal on a Caribbean
cruise, the Moore McCormack Line
Argentina on a Cristobal cruise from
New York and the Holland America
Line laasdam from the west coast with
the Chapman College students aboard.
The Queen Mary will stop in Balboa
December 1 during her final voyage.
January and February are the busy'
cruise months. The Queen Elizabeth,
the Empress of Canada and the Fede-
rico C will clock in Cristobal on West
Indies cruises. The Kungsholm will ar-
rive at Cristobal January 12 on a 93
day "Cruise of a Lifetime" to the South
Sea islands, the Far East and the Pacific.
The Bergensfjord will transit January
24 on a cruise around South America.
The Europa will visit Cristobal Jan-
uary 14 and February 10 as part of
Caribbean cruises.
Due in February are the Leonardo
da Vinci, of the Italian Line from New
York and Port Everglades on a Carib-
bean cruise, the Franconia and the
Carmania of the Cunard Line, the Em-
press of Canada, the United States, the
France, Hanseatic and the Federico C
all on Caribbean cruises. The Argentina
will transit February 8 on a round
South America cruise.
The Home Lines' ultramodern pas-
senger liner Oceanic is to make a stop
in February as part of a Caribbean
cruise with a visit at the San Bias
Islands.
The Renaissance will stop in Cristo-
bal March 9 and the Federico C will
make two calls at Cristobal that month.
Both the Hanseatic and Bremen will
stop at Cristobal in March during
Caribbean cruises.
The Caronia, the Cunard Line cruise
vessel, will arrive in Balboa April 25
on the last leg of a round-the-world
cruise. The Statendam and the Kung-
sholm, the Rotterdam and the Bergensf-
jord all are to dock in Balboa during
March or April on the return trip to
New York following cruises to South
America and the Pacific.
Scheduled to make a southbound
transit of the Canal early in December
is the new cruise ship Princess Italia
operated by the Princess Cruises of
Los Angeles. The $20 million, 12,000
ton liner constructed in Trieste has
been designed expressly as a cruise liner.

50 yearJ c4o
IN THE autumn of 1917, the Canal
organization announced plans for experi-
mental cattle breeding in the Zone,
following success with an original pro-
gram of fattening young cattle brought
in from outside. Canal authorities an-
nounced their desire for purchase of
30 bulls in Louisiana or southern Tex-
as, with Holsteins preferred for dairy
purposes and Herefords for beef cattle.
Two roads now essential to Pacific
side auto traffic came under construc-
tion 50 years ago. One was the highway
between Corozal and Miraflores, en-
gineered in 1917 to shorten by 3,840
feet the old road which ran parallel to
the Panama Railroad bed.
A second road then being built con-
nected Balboa with the old pier at La
Boca, running along the base of Sosa
Hill and through the bed of the old
Sosa Hill quarry.

25 year3 d4oo
CANAL ZONE residents were feeling
a unique side effect of World War 11
in September 1942 when they were
warned not to carry on private cor-
respondence with unknown persons

through clubs such as "Lonely Hearts"
and "Pen Pals." Authorities cautioned
against any persons representing them-
selves as collectors of unusual post-
marks, signatures and postcards as well.
It was a time of realization that solici-
tations for information on the Panama
Canal might come from Axis agents.
Twenty-five years ago, the new Bal-
boa High School building was used
to house senior high classes, previously
held in the Balboa Elementary School,
and most junior high classes. In mid-
October, students and schools personnel
learned they were soon to be inoculat-
ed against typhoid in a separate phase
of the Canal Zone's first typhoid
inoculation program.
Use and possession of marijuana be-
came a crime in the Canal Zone on
October 1, 1942, when the 77th Con-
gress passed an amendment to the
Canal Zone Code making this a criminal
offense.

10 Years c4go
THE U.S. BUREAU of Public Roads
announced, in September 1957, that
the Interamerican Highway would be
completed within 2 years. Officials ex-
pected the new road to be open for

motor travel from Laredo, Texas, to
the Panama Canal before 1959.
Pacific side teenagers received a boost
from the Canal organization September
11 when Gov. W. E. Potter formally
presented them the keys to Building
9A in Balboa for establishment of the
Balboa Teen Club, still operating today.
Bids opened in the fall of 1957 for
alterations and additions to convert the
former Ancon Commissary into a new
office building for the Panama Canal
Personnel Bureau.

One year c4,o
NOVEMBER 1966 saw the arrival of
Sing-Out '66, an exciting youth program
which earned acclaim throughout Pan-
ama and the Canal Zone. This was the
first visit to the Isthmus for the 160-
member globetrotting cast. The Sing-
Out theme song, "Up With People,"
was to become a familiar sound in both
English and Spanish.
The last of the original Panama
Canal "mules" was slated for disas-
sembling in November 1966. This
marked the 68th "mule" to end up
on the scrap heap since the old models
were gradually replaced by new towing
locomotives in 1964.

I

I rr'"LVDlT PROGREQRSSIVE D4 R F

u uNLEU: Iiiiii

lot-

Campaigning was spirited at the Culebra Post Office in 1912 during mock elections. Because U.S.-citizen residents of the Canal Zone could
not vote in national elections at that time, mock elections were held a few weeks before elections in the United States as "manifestations
of political desire for expression," according to the "Canal Record." The tickets usually bore nominations for national and municipal offices
and at least one village included on its ticket a nomination for the position of "town grouch."

NOVEMBER 1967

:7.

What Dreams Are Made of:

Winning Lottery

Numbers

A $50 MILLION business that thrives
on dreams and hunches?
That's the National Lottery of
Panama, which twice a week can turn
the timely dream or the right hunch
into a fortune.
It's just a matter of converting a
mental image conceived during sleep
or an intuition into the numbers that'll
show up on the Lottery's prize board.
And because people keep having dreams
and getting hunches, they continue
playing the lottery.
In Panama, they have been playing it
for 84 years now, first when it was a
privately owned business and later
when it became a government oper-
ation. So heavily in fact-approximately
$1,250,000 weekly-that the National
Lottery ranks as the largest independ-
ent agency of the Panamanian Govern-
ment from the standpoint of generating
revenue for the treasury.
The Panama Lottery runs two
drawings weekly, on Sundays and
Wednesday. For each drawing, it is-
sues tickets numbered from 0000 to
9999 and from 00 to 99. The Sunday
4-digit tickets consist of 75 pieces each:

the Wednesday tickets, of 30 pieces
each-10,000 tickets for each drawing.
Each piece costs 55 cents and can win
prizes ranging from $1 to $1,000. There
are three main prizes in every drawing.
For the complete ticket on Sundays,
these prizes are $75,000, $22,500 and
$11,250; on Wednesdays, $30,000,
$9,000 and $4,500. Lesser prizes or
"approximations" are derived from the
main numbers. Eleven hundred of the
2-digit tickets containing 20 pieces of
the same number are issued for Sun-
days; 925 2-digit tickets, also of 20
pieces each, for Wednesdays. Each
piece costs 20 cents and stands to win
$11 for first prize, $3 for second, and
$2 for third. The Panamanian govern-
ment levies no taxes on lottery prizes.
There are two special or extraordi-
nary drawings in the year. One, on the
first Wednesday in July, has a first
prize of $100,000 (50 pieces in the
ticket); the other, on the Wednesday
before Christmas, offers a $250,000
first prize (125 pieces in the ticket).
The price doubles for the special
drawings.
To sell this huge quantity of tickets

(sales are averaging 90 percent of the
total weekly issue worth $1,400,500)
the Lottery employs an army of ap.
proximately 2,500 vendors in Panama
City and Colon, which account for 80
percent of the sales, and about 50
contractors in the rest of the country
who in turn employ an estimated 500
vendors. Regular vendors earn 6 per-
cent commission; contractors get 9 per-
cent, but have to pay their own ven-
dors and cannot turn in unsold tickets
as vendors in Panama City and Colon
are allowed to do.
Lottery vendors can play an im-
portant part in the lives of their cus-
tomers. Win the friendship of one and
you're assured of your favorite number
every week; fall into bad grace and
you may find that a fortune slipped
out of your grasp.
One of the most widely-known ven-
dors in Panama City is Mrs. Adelina A.
de Icaza, a great grandmother who in
30 years has set an amazing record of
good luck for her customers.
She has sold the first prize 28 times;
(See p. 18)

I Milk J

Hundreds of hopeful players gather in Lottery Plaza every Wednesday and Sunday to see the lottery drawings held in kiosk at right.
Thousands of others in every city, town and province of the country see and hear the drawings over television and radio.

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

Luck Stories

Are Bizarre,

Commonplace

(Continued from p. 17)
the second prize, 16 times; the third
prize, 23 times. Her phenomenal record
of selling prize-winning tickets began
in 1942, when 3757 played on October
18. (Incidentally, when 3757 played
again for first prize 13 years later, on
September 5, 1965, Mrs. Icaza was still
selling it.) The last time she sold the
big prize-6180-was August 20 of
this year.
Once she sold the first prize two
Sunday in a row (3757 on September
5, 1965, and 7091 on September 12,
1965). She tells a typical lottery luck
story in this connection:
A friend came to her stand to buy
a complete 75-piece ticket. He asked
Mrs. Icaza to choose the number
for him.
"I was playing 1 that week," she
recalls, "so 1 gave him 7091. A short
time later, he ran into a friend and
offered to sell him half the ticket. The
friend inquired where the number had
been bought. When he was told it
came from me, his reply was: 'Oh, no;
she sold the first prize last week.' "
Well, 7091 played and Mrs. Icaza's
friend was richer by $75,000 and the
other fellow was out the $37,500 he
would have won if he had bought half
the ticket.
More than her lucky hand, however,
it's her exceptional honesty that has
made Mrs. Icaza outstanding.
Three times in 30 years she has
returned prize-winning tickets to cus-
tomers who had reserved numbers but
failed to pay for them. The sums in-
volved were $2,000, $19,000 and
$42,000. To appreciate the generosity
and unselfishness of her action, it must
be remembered that prize-winning
lottery tickets are payable to the bearer.
Mrs. Icaza tells about these incidents
modestly.
When 6400 played on January 6,
1952, she had reserved 42 pieces of
that number for a long-time customer.
As a matter of fact, that was the second
successive week she had saved, unpaid,
the 42 pieces of 6400 for this customer.

.UWUWW" .
The orphan girl in center has just drawn an ivory ball from the revolving cage operated
by lottery employee in white shirt. Everyone's eyes are on the young lady.

She has given it to the Governor of the Province who unscrews it open and shows the number
in each half to the spectators and to the television cameras. The crowd roars.

When the number played, she im-
mediately went to her customer's home
to turn in the winning pieces. The cus-
tomer refused to accept them, pointing
out they were unpaid.
The following day, Mrs. Icaza went
to the lottery office, cashed the pieces
and then deposited the $42,000 in the
Banco Nacional in her customer's name.
"You can draw against your $42,000,"
Mrs. Icaza told the customer by phone,
"the money has been deposited in
your name.
Mrs. Icaza admits she was suitably
rewarded.

On the two other occasions, her
fortunate customers also had failed to
pay for their reserved tickets.
"But 1 knew they would pay, even
if they didn't hit," is Mrs. Icaza's simple
explanation.
Has she hit the lottery herself?
Yes, once. By mistake.
A customer who went on vacation
paid up his 26 pieces of 3757 for 6
weeks. The number won first prize on
the third week after his departure.
When Mrs. Icaza went to the Lottery
Office to have the prize-winning pieces
kept in the safe until her customer's

NOVEMBER 1967

4225 -

1622 -

I ," ." ,

The winning numbers are posted on the lottery's prize board as each is drawn. The board
also shows the province where each winning ticket is sold.

return, she discovered she had put aside
28 instead of 26 pieces. The mistake
was worth $2,000 to her.
Like other vendors, Mrs. Icaza finds
that dreams and hunches motivate
many of her customers. People will go
after a particular number because they
had a dream which "meant" that
number.
Dreams fall into two classes: Those
in which specific numbers come up and
those which involve persons, animals,
objects, or situations which require
translation into numbers. Even number
dreams, unless they are the 4-digit
variety, will require some interpretation
if the dreamer wants to go after the
big money. Here's the way one man
interpreted a 1-number dream to hit
the big 4-digit first prize: His deceased
brother told him in a dream: "Buy
7." He bought 7777, 10 pieces-and
collected $10,000 the following Sunday.
The official Lottery magazine once
told of the consistent good luck of a
Canal Zone employee, now deceased.
He had won $6,000 on 9313 and hit
for $10,000 with the same number
3 years later.
Why did he start to play that number?
Here's the Lottery magazine's version:
"A friend died, owing him $9. Then
the friend appeared in a dream and
handed him $3. The friend reappeared
and handed him $1 and showed up
a third time to pay $3."
Non-number dreams are subject to
various interpretations, depending on
what dream book or interpreter is con-
sulted. Of course, if the resulting num-
ber doesn't play, the fault is neither
with the book nor the interpreter, but
with the dreamer himself. Either it was
a "bad" dream or some important detail
was not remembered at the time of
the consultation.
Hunches may be individual or col-

lective. A person will feel strongly one
week on the number of his paycheck,
or his identification card, or his tele-
phone, or his postal box, or his license
plate, or his birth date, or his age,
or a family anniversary (particular-
ly a death anniversary), or the grave
of a deceased relative or friend, or a
pawnshop ticket, or any one of a myr-
iad of such number-bearing objects or
situations.
Often the whole community of
lottery players will pursue a particular
number 1 week because of some at-
tention-attracting event-the death of
a national figure (date, age, grave
number), or an unusual accident (the
number of victims or the license plate

number of the vehicle involved), or a
significant anniversary. The age of
Christ, 33, is very popular around
Easter Week.
On such stuff the lottery business
thrives. And how it has thrived in
Panama!
In the past 10 years, the Panama
Lottery's gross revenue and net earn-
ings have nearly doubled. In 1966,
gross income was approximately $50
million and net earnings topped $10
million. The estimate of the gross take
this year is $70 million with net earnings
exceeding $12 million.
The Lottery's operations provide the
National Government with about 10
percent of its revenue. Lottery funds
support hospitals, health units, nurs-
eries, asylums, orphanages, and disaster
relief operations. For example, the
recently inaugurated center for the
Panamanian Institute of Special Edu-
cation, which treats exceptional chil-
dren, was built with lottery money. By
law, 10 percent of all unsold prizes is
set aside for the Institute. Unsold tickets
turned in to the Lottery prior to each
drawing are held for 1 year if they win
prizes. Then they are destroyed.
It is often said that if there is any
one institution in which Panamanians
have blind faith that institution is the
National Lottery. This reflects the out-
standing record of integrity of the
organization since its beginning.
Take the drawings. They are con-
(See p. 20)

Language is no barrier for playing the Panama Lottery. An American customer points to
the number he wants. Maybe it's his license plate number or postal box.

THE PANAMA CANAL REVIEW

(Continued from p. 19)
ducted in public and are open to
inspection by anyone.
Forty identical ivory balls, numbered
from 0 to 9 (four to each number),
are used in the drawings. Each ball
unscrews in two halves, each bearing
the number inside. The halves are
placed on public display 1 hour before
each drawing in the triangular kiosk
behind the Lottery Office where the
numbers are drawn. In the presence
of two witnesses picked at random from
among the spectators, each ivory ball
is then put together and placed in a
hand-operated revolving cage.
Three children between 6 and 7
years of age, rotated weekly from
among the city's four orphanages,
draw four balls each, or one complete
prize. The orphanage gets $7 for its
children's services.
Rain or shine, hundreds of hopeful
players crowd in the small plaza sur-
rounding the kiosk to witness the draw-
ing. Many of them make last-minute
purchases from vendors shouting the
numbers still available on their boards
or waving strips of tickets to attract
attention.
At 11 a.m. on Sundays and at 12 on
Wednesday all eyes converge on the
kiosk. The participants in the drawing
are the Governor of Panama Province,
who is the presiding authority; the
Vice Minister of Finance, who repre-
sents the Government; a notary public,
the two witnesses (who get no emolu-
ments) and the three orphans. Their
every movement is covered by televi-
sion cameras and described by eight
TV and radio announcers. There is
literally no corer of the country where
the Lottery drawing cannot be seen
or heard.
On a signal from the Governor, a
Lottery employee starts the gyrations
of the cage. The ivory balls tumble as
the cage spins. Another signal from the
Governor and it stops. A small trap-
door in the cage is opened, the little
orphan picks up a ball and hands it
to the Governor. He unscrews it and
then reads the number aloud, showing

the numbered halves to the public. The
ball is put together again and returned
to the cage.
The process is repeated until 12
numbers-4 to each prize-have been
drawn.
To a newcomer the spectacle is one
of organized bedlam, but exciting.
The system is the same for every
drawing, just as it has been since the
Lottery began as a private institution
in 1883. Founded by the revered phil-
anthropist Jose Gabriel Duque, it started
as a 3-digit, one-prize lottery. Each
ticket consisted of 5 pieces and sold for
1 peso (half a dollar). The first prize
was 500 pesos. The very first drawing
was held February 25, 1883, and the
winning number was 053. The change
to the present 4-digit system was made
in 1903..
When Mr. Duque's concession ex-
pired in 1919, the Government took
over the lottery operation. By that time,
three prizes were being offered. The
first drawing under Government super-
vision was held March 30, 1919, and
the winning number was 1705.
One more change was to occur.
Until 1921, only the first prize actually
was drawn; second prize was the num-
ber immediately preceding and third
prize the number immediately follow-
ing. Since that year, each prize is
drawn separately.

Duque Founded Lottery

" /

1 .. ..

Mrs. Adelina A. de Icaza still sells No. 6400. Fifteen years ago a long-time customer failed
to pay Mrs. Icaza for 42 reserved pieces of that number which hit the first prize of $42,000,
but Mrs. Icaza delivered the prize money to the customer.

NOVEMBER 1967

A state lottery is not peculiar to
Panama. Every Latin American country
runs one or more lotteries (in 'Colom-
bia, for example, one is drawn ever)
day of the week). Through the centu-
ries lotteries have been conducted in
England, Ireland, Germany, France,
Spain, Switzerland, Russia, and the
United States. The largest in the
United States was the Louisiana Lot-
tery, conducted after the Civil War
by the State of Louisiana. It was even-
tually stopped by law, but lotteries are
being revived in a few states in recent
years and the idea of a Federal lottery
has gained advocates.
All of the modern lotteries trace
their origin to the days of Rome, where
drawings for valuable prizes were held
after imperial banquets or the festivals
in the Coliseum. Lotteries such as we
know them today were first held in
Italy and the earliest state lotteries are
reported to have been conducted in
France in 1520.
Wherever a lottery has operated, man
has sought to perfect a system that will
assure him of the winning numbers.
In Panama it has been no different.
Dreams, hunches, mathematical for-
mulae-all and more have been tried,
to no avail. Perhaps there is one system
after all that has proved its effective-
ness, yet few have been aware of it.
It is to forget about the numbers and
simply keep buying tickets at No.
11-13, "1" Street.
That's Mrs. Adelina A. de Icaza's
selling address.

dw

-i!
sr

Philanthropy

Big Part of

Club's Work

(Continued from p. 9)
some cases were inundated when Gatun
Lake was formed, so the clubs dissolved
automatically, their mission finished.
Of the original clubs formed under
the Canal Zone Federation, the Cristo-
bal Woman's Club is the only one in
continuous existence from the day it
was founded.
The first yearbook of the Cristobal
Woman's Club listed 61 members. Then
came the dissolution of the Canal Zone
Federation on January 25, 1913. It was
a period of change, from the Construc-
tion era to the maintenance period.
Executives were for the most part
transferred to the Pacific side where the
seat of the Canal Zone Government was
to be located, and many engineers, with
their families sailed for the States and
to other construction projects. Mem-
bership in the Cristobal Woman's Club
in 1913 dropped to 37.
A quarter of a century later the club
roster listed 134 names. Today, on its
60th anniversary the Cristobal Woman's
Club has 254 members, representing
more than a dozen countries.
The Cristobal Woman's Club has
been a member of the General Federa-
tion of Women's Clubs, with head-
quarters in Washington, D.C., since
November 4, 1914.
As the Club grew, it established the
first library in Cristobal and was the
nucleus for the Atlantic side Chapter of
the American Red Cross. Civic improve-
ments sponsored by the Club included
a playground in Colon, a rest home for
women crossing the Isthmus, and a
drinking fountain for the overworked
cab horses of Colon. The Club also
published a cookbook.
For almost 25 years the Club oper-
ated a Women's Exchange and Tea
Room at the Gilbert House in Colon,
the Club headquarters until the historic
building was condemned and torn down
in 1952. The Women's Exchange and
Tea Room profits were the principal
support of the free clinic, the Cristobal
Woman's Club's philanthropic work
at the time.

Governor W. P. Leber was the guest speaker at the 60th anniversary meeting of the Cristobal
Woman's Club last month. At his right is Mrs. Harry Butz, president for 1967-1968. From
left: Mrs. Howard Prithaln, recording secretary; Mrs. Butz; Governor Leber; Mrs. Curtis
Coate, treasurer; Mrs. Charles Hinz, corresponding secretary and Mrs. Patrick Ridge,
first vice president. Mrs. Andrew Kozar, second vice president, is not in the photograph.

A soup kitchen was operated by the
Cristobal Woman's Club during 1921
and 1922 to help feed the needy
of Colon.
An interesting sidelight is that in
those early years, when funds were
needed to continue the operations of
the Club, it was decided to hold a card
party as a money making project. But
first the bylaws had to be changed.
Some of the Club's founders were
opposed to card playing as "not fit for
genteel ladies."
The old YMCA building in Cristobal
was the Club's first meeting place.
From 1917 to 1952 the Gilbert House
was Club headquarters. The American
Red Cross gave the Club permission
to use their building from 1952 to
August 1959, when the Cristobal Wom-
an's Club building was completed in
Margarita.
The philanthropy program of the
Cristobal Woman's Club has been active
since the Club was formed 60 years
ago. Each Thursday of every week in
the year, food and clothing are distrib-
uted to about 80 aged indigents of
Colon, most of them over 75 years of
age, who gather at the Cristobal Wom-
an's Club little room in the back of the
old Cristobal Fire Station.
Long before the doors open at 8:30
a.m. each Thursday, the aged, the lame,

and the near-blind begin to congregate
to await the arrival of the Cristobal
Woman's Club Philanthropy Commit-
tee members. Some of the aged assist
one another, some lean upon a young-
ster's arm. Each carries a sack or home-
sewn bag in which are placed the
food contributions. Sometimes there are
extras, and always there are extras at
Christmas and New Year's.
Volunteer members fill shopping
bags, mostly with foodstuffs, for distrib-
ution to Colon's aged poor for those
holidays. Last Christmas the Philan-
thropy Committee supervised the prep-
aration and filling of more than 200
bags for their regulars and about 150
"extras." Investigation teams of the Club
visit and determine the needs of those
who apply for aid and, although old
people get first consideration, clothing
is provided also for children.
The 60th anniversary of the Cristobal
Woman's Club, founded in Canal con-
struction days, was fittingly observed
last month with an address by Cov.
W. P. Leber on the Canal's future.
Mrs. Harry Butz, president, presided
and, symbolic of the club's history, used
a cocobolo wood gavel that dates back
to French construction days and which
was salvaged from the attic of the old
Panama Canal Administration Building
in Panama City many years ago.

A driving rainy season downpour greets the French flag ship Cetra Carina as she moves southbound through Pedro Miguel Locks during
her first transit of the Canal. The 835-foot vessel, en route from Newport News, Va., to Tobata, Japan, was loaded with a cargo of coal at
the time. Notice how the force of the wind and rain caused the metal cones on the left to lean. The cones indicate the number of pairs of
locomotives required to bring the ships following the Cetra Carina through the locks. In this case the two cones at the top indicate two
pairs of locomotives are being used for one ship, the single cone at the bottom means that another ship, a small one, is coming through on
the same lockage but without any locomotives. When ships require locomotives, or "mules," as most do, a minimum of two pairs are used.